In response to demand for the 2022 cruise season, AQSC-American Queen Steamboat Company and VCL-Victory Cruise Lines, Hornblower Family Companies, released their 2023 season.
Itineraries feature the debut of Victory Cruise Lines' 2nd expedition ship, Ocean Discoverer, as well as a comprehensive schedule of journeys. Rewarding loyal guests and those who wish to experience America’s Great Lakes, rivers, coastal waters, and Alaska for the first time, the cruise lines are offering savings up to US$1200 per stateroom on 2023 itineraries if booked by April 30, 2021.
AQSC and VCL will open a satellite office in a yet-to-be-determined location in South Florida in 2022, relocating the sales, marketing, and operations team to the epicenter of the industry. Executive, finance, and other functions remain in New Albany, IN headquarters.
The largest steamboat in the world, American Queen, will sail the Lower Mississippi route with a total of 28 departures between Memphis-New Orleans. She will also offer a Thanksgiving from Memphis to New Orleans and 3 New Orleans roundtrips over the December holidays. American Countess sails a fall Mighty Mississippi voyage out of Saint Paul to New Orleans in September and cruises up and down the Ohio, Cumberland, Tennessee rivers throughout the 2023 season. The American Duchess paddle-wheeler showcases the Ohio River with 6 sailings between Louisville and the company’s easternmost point of Pittsburgh. American Empress will begin her season in the Pacific Northwest on March 23 and sail 9-day, one-way trips between Portland (Vancouver, WA) and Spokane (Clarkston) through November 26, 2023
VCL will debut Ocean Discoverer with a repositioning cruise from Puerto Caldera to San Diego CA departing on May 12, 2023, followed by 11- and 12-day sailings between Sitka-Vancouver or Sitka-Seattle. Sailing her 3rd season in the fleet, Ocean Victory is scheduled to operate between Vancouver and Sitka throughout the summer season with repositioning cruises to bookend the season between Puerto Caldera-San Diego.
Traveling the coastal waters of the United States, Canada, and the Great Lakes, Victory I and Victory II ships chart a course with 11-16 day sailings embarking in Chicago’s Navy Pier, Toronto, Detroit, and Montreal; discovering Marquette, Mackinaw Island, Soo Locks/Sault Ste. Marie. The identical 202-passenger vessels will also visit Southern ports like Savannah, Charleston, Fernandina Beach. Victory II will sail far south as Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula for roundtrip voyages from Cozumel.